Full Face Helmets - Who Was The First?

[steve roberts 9,246]

7 hours ago, 25yearfan said:

If you talked to riders from the 60's a lot of them struggled when the pudding basin helmets were replaced by open faced helmets that went right round the side and over the ears because they couldn't hear as well! - I still recall seeing a few riders with pudding basin helmets in the early 70;s, when did these get outlawed?

 

Dave Jessup rode one meeting for Mildenhall at Wimbledon in 1988 which was his final one and he was still wearing a monkey mask. I'm not sure if he ever did wear a full faced helmet, the only time may have been when he was sponsored by Briggo in the early 70's? 

 

Ray Morton and Scott Swain are two of the last riders I remember who wore open faced helmets.

 

A question! - Are open faced helmets outlawed in present times or not? 

Good question.

[E I Addio 15,845]

On 5/4/2023 at 7:52 PM, chunky said:

Briggo was wearing one in 1969, because he wore it at Wembley. Martin toyed with one on and off, but he was never a convert. Paul was a little later...

Arthur Price was another early one.

Yes, according to the Speedway Plus website Briggo was the first to wear one in 1969.

I stand to be corrected if anyone knows different but I am pretty sure that Briggo, who had a handy sideline in marketing various items of Speedway equipment, marketed his own brand of full face helmets specially designed for Speedway. Full face helmets originally were made for car racers but for some reason were not really suitable for bikes until modifications were made. 

[E I Addio 15,845]

8 hours ago, 25yearfan said:

 

 

A question! - Are open faced helmets outlawed in present times or not? 

They are. There are strict regulations about the design of crash helmets including the fact the the riders hair shouldn’t be sticking out of the helmet, although that doesn’t seem to bother Richard Lawson !!

 I remember one incident when the referee , Paul Carrington, ruled Ales Drymls helmet illegal for some reason ( I think it was either too old or damaged ) , Dryml protested and said he had worn the helmet at other meetings. The referee asked him for details of the other meetings he had worn it it. When Dryml asked why , Paul said he was going to fine him £300 for each meeting. Dryml quickly withdrew his complaint and found another helmet !

 

[Rich 75]

14 minutes ago, E I Addio said:

Yes, according to the Speedway Plus website Briggo was the first to wear one in 1969.

I stand to be corrected if anyone knows different but I am pretty sure that Briggo, who had a handy sideline in marketing various items of Speedway equipment, marketed his own brand of full face helmets specially designed for Speedway. Full face helmets originally were made for car racers but for some reason were not really suitable for bikes until modifications were made. 

The early Bell full face helmets as used in the States were as you say designed for car racing, with limited side vision and no way of fitting a peak. They also were too far down the head especially at the back and had the potential to cause neck or spinal damage in the event of whiplash. I used an Owen full face helmet in 1971 which addressed these issues. 

[steve roberts 9,246]

19 minutes ago, E I Addio said:

They are. There are strict regulations about the design of crash helmets including the fact the the riders hair shouldn’t be sticking out of the helmet, although that doesn’t seem to bother Richard Lawson !!

 I remember one incident when the referee , Paul Carrington, ruled Ales Drymls helmet illegal for some reason ( I think it was either too old or damaged ) , Dryml protested and said he had worn the helmet at other meetings. The referee asked him for details of the other meetings he had worn it it. When Dryml asked why , Paul said he was going to fine him £300 for each meeting. Dryml quickly withdrew his complaint and found another helmet !

 

I remember when Kai Niemi's helmet flew off in one race at White City and completed the race without one finishing third (?)...strangley enough the referee excluded him for being "improperly dressed!!"

Edited June 4, 2023 by steve roberts

[steve roberts 9,246]

1 minute ago, Rich said:

The early Bell full face helmets as used in the States were as you say designed for car racing, with limited side vision and no way of fitting a peak. They also were too far down the head especially at the back and had the potential to cause neck or spinal damage in the event of whiplash. I used an Owen full face helmet in 1971 which addressed these issues. 

I remember reading that some riders disliked wearing them because they didn't allow for full peripheral vision.

[martinmauger 584]

Big Alan Grahame wore an open-faced helmet until at least 1996, think full-face helmets became compulsory in 1997 or so.  Recall reading many riders weren't keen on the 1970's / 1980's full-face helmet due to impaired vision & also potential increase of a whiplash injury due to the extra weight as the full-face 'lids' of that time at least were intended for road use & car racing.  The Bell Moto3 appeared in 1980 or so & was popular with many riders though Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen wore open-faced helmets, Bell Magnum or Star I forget which, for pretty much their entire career as did Peter Collins until 1979 or so.  The modern full-face helmet we see today I beleive were originally intended for Moto-X, they come with a peak already attached, though it can be removed or easily break off in a spill.  But said peak is angled upwards at which affects riders vision at sunny meetings, I noticed some riders at the Scunny v Redcar match last friday wore tinted goggles, many don't.....

Edited June 4, 2023 by martinmauger
spelling x2

[Ghosty 500]

Several post on here have stated that it is compulsory to wear a "Full-face" helmet for speedway can anyone copy & past where that is stated please. I understood it was any helmet that passed certain standards?

[E I Addio 15,845]

2 hours ago, Ghosty said:

Several post on here have stated that it is compulsory to wear a "Full-face" helmet for speedway can anyone copy & past where that is stated please. I understood it was any helmet that passed certain standards?

You need to find out what the “certain standards” are. According to the ACU track racing regulations helmets for speedway , grass track and moto cross have to have an ACU silver stamp but they don’t specify what standard has to be reached to get the stamp. The machine examiner just has to check that the helmets have the appropriate stamp and that’s it. However the ACU regulations give Youth riders the option of either full face or open face ( because of the difficulty in sometimes getting a full face helmet to fit a small head properly).  Since no similar option is given for adult rider one presumes open face is not an option.

In the Speedway Office at Lakeside there was a poster on the wall with specifications for crash helmets and since only a full face one was shown I presume open face was not acceptable.

Like a lot of things in Speedway it’s not at all clear what the regulations actually do say but  I’m reasonably sure they don’t put the silver stamp on open face helmets any more.

Edited June 4, 2023 by E I Addio

[martinmauger 584]

On 6/4/2023 at 2:45 PM, martinmauger said:

Big Alan Grahame wore an open-faced helmet until at least 1996, think full-face helmets became compulsory in 1997 or so.  Recall reading many riders weren't keen on the 1970's / 1980's full-face helmet due to impaired vision & also potential increase of a whiplash injury due to the extra weight as the full-face 'lids' of that time at least were intended for road use & car racing.  The Bell Moto3 appeared in 1980 or so & was popular with many riders though Ivan Mauger & Ole Olsen wore open-faced helmets, Bell Magnum or Star I forget which, for pretty much their entire career as did Peter Collins until 1979 or so.  The modern full-face helmet we see today I beleive were originally intended for Moto-X, they come with a peak already attached, though it can be removed or easily break off in a spill.  But said peak is angled upwards at which affects riders vision at sunny meetings, I noticed some riders at the Scunny v Redcar match last friday wore tinted goggles, many don't.....

Think it was a Bell Magnum Ivan & Ole used & meant to say "they come with a peak already attached, though it can be removed or easily snap off or detach without necessarily breaking in a spill".  Recall Italian brand AGV made light-ish off-road full-face helmets, presumably used in Moto-X as, like the Bell Moto3, they were fitted with studs so as to attach a peak.  Think it will be in SCB regs somewhere about full-face lids being compulsory.  From personal experience, I can confirm a full-face helmet will help prevent facial injuries.  Years ago I got swiped off my road bike by a car "I didn't see him, to be honest I wasn't looking.  I never do as I know this road (!)", despite wearing an almost new Arai 'gold star' ACU / FIM road & race-approved full-face helmet I suffered a concussion & lost 4 teeth (!).  Bell Helmets once ran an advertising campaign "if you have a 10 dollar head, get a 10 dollar helmet"....

Edited June 17, 2023 by martinmauger
spelling

[The White Knight 9,039]

First time I ever saw a full face helmet was in about 19972. Dave Gatenby wore one when riding for Sunderland 'Stars'.

[chunky 6,095]

7 hours ago, The White Knight said:

First time I ever saw a full face helmet was in about 19972. Dave Gatenby wore one when riding for Sunderland 'Stars'.

I remember Dave wearing one, but so far, I haven't been able to find a photo to confirm what year it was. However, I have seen a photo of Sunderland's John Goodall wearing one in 1971! Another rider from that era who wore a full-face helmet was Rayleigh's Alan Emmett.

[The White Knight 9,039]

15 hours ago, chunky said:

I remember Dave wearing one, but so far, I haven't been able to find a photo to confirm what year it was. However, I have seen a photo of Sunderland's John Goodall wearing one in 1971! Another rider from that era who wore a full-face helmet was Rayleigh's Alan Emmett.

Thank you for posting this Chunky. I had forgotten that, you are right John Goodall was the first one  I saw.

John was only with us for about half the Season in 1971, he returned to New Zealand.

[chunky 6,095]

Just now, The White Knight said:

Thank you for posting this Chunky. I had forgotten that, you are right John Goodall was the first one  I saw.

John was only with us for about half the Season in 1971, he returned to New Zealand.

I was thinking that you would have been there in 1971, and of course, our memories play tricks on us sometimes! Yeah, he went home, and came back six years later.

[The White Knight 9,039]

1 hour ago, chunky said:

I was thinking that you would have been there in 1971, and of course, our memories play tricks on us sometimes! Yeah, he went home, and came back six years later.

He left under a bit of a cloud. Came back to ride for Birmingham I think, memory sometimes lets me down these days..